Mel Gibson

It is alot harder to immigrate to the USA then OZ, if this was not the case and you had the choice of immigrating to either the USA or OZ, which country would you choose? what are the advantages and disadvantages or each country?

chocaholic

We were given the chance to move to L.A., job included. At least, my husband would have been given a green card for the job, but I would have had to find a sponsor. My husband would have been paid double the salary but it would have been expensive for us to live in a desirable and safe area of LA. With the tax advantages we had at the time in Holland it worked out that we would have been financially the same but with the disadvantage that my husband would have been employed at will i.e. no job security and if he was suddenly to be without a job we would have not had a green card either. We found it too much of a risk!

Saying that, we gave our jobs up, sold our house and moved to Sydney - but at least in theory we were both able to look for jobs. (I say, in theory, because I haven't looked yet...)

We found it very tempting to move to California. I did a postgraduate course there too - but I'm happy we chose Oz.

Kendonakasaki

Deffo Australia, if you go to the states theres a chance you could bump into arseholes like Ray, Leslie66 and LioninWinter.

JAJ

By the way - you call that kind of sponsorship a green card, but it's not. It sounds like a H1-B work visa or similar.

A green card in the US remains yours even if you lose your job. And when someone is sponsored for a green card, spouse gets one too.

The security of permanent residence or citizenship (easier to obtain in Australia compared to the US for many people, especially those under 45) is worth a lot compared to a higher salary on a temporary visa.

Jeremy

jensteve

My uncle is in Florida off on the keys, which for him is really nice, he has lived on the mainland as well as the the major cities with work, and while we where debating about the usa or oz idea, he came over and stayed with us, then he said 'I was laying in bed the other night, practising loading my gun!!!!!' Well apperently you must be able to load it in the darkness! After I had gasped he said 'well I have been broken into before and had a gun fight through the wall with the burglar.' He's a pretty straight talking type of guy and he then said about he will not drive near any of the hick towns after the last time he was chucked in jail, and beaten up, all for it seems picking up a hitch hiker who had run out of petrol. Now he is American through and through and he is scared in his own country, so hence why we are sitting in OZ right now. He did say that if he could choose again between OZ and the USA he should have gone to Melbourne in OZ.
Lifes what we make it eh
Jenny

chocaholic

Yes, you're right, it was about 7 years ago now - but it was some kind of work visa - not a situation where we would have had green cards straight away.